Journey to the Land of Human Fantasy (Rewritten)
by BeyondBirthday949
Summary: Brittany spent three years of her life blocking out all things magical, since they only reminded her of her mother. Her cousin, Bastian, does the only thing that he believes will bring back the old Brittany, and takes her to Fantasia over the summer. He never expected to drag her into a war with their fiercest opponent yet. No pairings. Currently being rewritten.
1. Prologue

For years, every part of my life had to be perfectly planned and far from childish. Steering clear of everything imaginative and illogical seemed to be the best way to ease the pain, for fantasies were all that I heard from her. I constantly had my nose in a book, trying to bring as much knowledge into my brain as possible. With each fact written in the nonfiction novels that I read, I lessened my interest in magic and mayhem. After all, why should I care so much about such silly things, especially when they had no chance of ever existing in the real world? What good would they ever bring me in life?

Bastian managed to change my view of fantasy drastically, with the help of a single book. Studying constantly about topics that never interested me only made it more difficult for me to enjoy myself. Having to know exactly what would happen at every given moment made me less and less spontaneous every day, and my reactions during unexpected situations went downhill just as fast. He noticed this almost instantly, and he did the only thing that he believed would bring back the wonderful cousin that he knew three years ago. Only, he wished that he wouldn't have dragged me into the middle of a war.

I will certainly never forget my wonderful experiences in Fantasia, and the beautiful sights that I saw will stay with me forever. Some things, though, I am better off forgetting.


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival

It fascinated me how I was able to recall many childhood memories as we drove down the street towards my cousin's house. The park, which was just across the street from his house, held the most of my cherished memories that occurred when I was younger. We used to run around the park, wielding imaginary swords and pretending that we were in a battle, one of us on the side of good and the other evil. When we got tired, we'd call it a draw and play on the swings. Normally, we'd look up at the clouds and see who could name the most shapes in the sky. That was three years ago, though, and we weren't children anymore.

_Wow... Has it really been three years?_

The last time I saw my cousin, Bastian, was over the summer when I was eleven. Then, of course, the loss of my mother made my life start spiraling towards the earth, and I was too busy locking myself in my bedroom with my countless number of books to even think about vacations. These books weren't the fantasies with the beautiful maidens and dark sorcerers that I had been so fond of reading, but informational novels that would further my knowledge. On occasion, I would select a crime or mystery novel to enjoy for a day or two, as long as it was as realistic as possible. Without my mother and her enchanting stories, I have had to tighten my grasp on reality, only to keep her out of my thoughts.

My dad had let it go on for the first year, thinking that it was just a stage and that I would start living again soon enough. After the second year, he casually started hinting that he wanted me to go outside, inhale the precious fresh air, and maybe meet up with some of my old friends after school. I listened to his suggestions, but merely shrugged them off and resumed with my isolated life in the comfort of my bedroom. The third year was when he believed that I should be letting the event go, and he started mentioning mom again. He tried to, at least, for I would stop him or leave the room before he could finish his statement. By the time the first week of summer came around, and he practically hadn't seen me in three days, he decided that he was going to let me stay with my cousin for a couple of weeks. Not only would I be able to visit the family members that I had ignored for so long, but I would hopefully arrive back home with many exciting stories to tell, like I did every year when I was younger.

We pulled up into my cousin's driveway, and I marveled in the sight of their house. It was much larger than our house in Indiana, almost twice the size, and it was much nicer. The two-story white house had a row of flowers lining the front (which Uncle Barney more than likely planted, since Bastian wouldn't so much as touch a flower), and it had one of the largest backyards I've ever seen. The yard behind the house seemed to go on for miles, and it used to be one of our two most popular basis of imaginative operation. On a regular day, I would have thought that it would become one of my many reading areas over the next couple weeks. However, my dad confiscated my books ("You've been reading non-stop for three years, two weeks without them will do you good."), so I wasn't sure what exactly I'd do back there.

When my dad parked the car in front of the closed garage, he turned around in his seat to look at me. A smile was on his face for the first time in a while, making it obvious that he was glad that his daughter had agreed to visit the family.

"You'll have a great time, I promise." He assured me.

"Bastian and I are so different now..." I muttered in disagreement.

"I'm sure if you don't wanna have fake battles to save mankind, he won't force you." He chuckled, but the seriousness in his tone was clear. "But still, try to have some fun. You can only be a kid once, you know."

"I'm not a kid."

"Well, you're not an adult."

With that, he stepped out of the car and motioned for me to do the same. It was nice to finally stand up after sitting in a stuffy car for over four hours. My legs felt like unbreakable rocks, and I resisted the urge to do two minutes worth of stretches. Settling for just rolling my shoulders, I sighed and walked over to the trunk of the car to get my suitcases. I would have had five bags instead of two if I were allowed to bring my books, but since my prized possessions remained in another state, I brought just about everything the average person would bring to an overnight stay with somebody. Clothes, sleepwear, my favorite pillow, bathroom stuff, my cell phone, and a camera (my dad's idea).

I hadn't managed to open the trunk, however, before two arms quickly wrapped around my waist and pulled me into a backwards hug. I gasped at the sudden greeting, which made my cousin laugh.

"Hey, I'm looking for my cousin, Brittany." He started to say, as if he didn't know me. "She looks a lot like you, except she was a lot shorter the last time I saw her."

Grinning like a madman, I spun around and returned Bastian's hug. It only lasted for a second, though, since I needed time to take in how much he had changed over the years. His blonde hair (though longer) and pale blue eyes still remained, but the boy was just over three inches taller than me. He smiled at me with genuine happiness, which I haven't seen in so long. It was comforting, being in the presence of one of my best friends who I haven't seen in years.

"You've grown... A lot." I said, suppressing a laugh.

"I'm a growing man, get over it."

I opened the car trunk to get by two suitcases, which Bastian grabbed before I was able to. I gave him "The Look", more specifically the "Stop-Being-So-Polite-'Cause-It's-Creepy Look", which he noticed almost instantly.

"I have arms too, you know." I said, grinning as I grabbed one of the two suitcases out of his hand.

"I thought most girls appreciated it when guys acted like gentlemen."

"Oh, don't worry. You can be your non-gentleman, socially awkward, never-gonna-get-a-girlfriend self as much as you like."

"Well, in that case..."

Bastian swiftly handed me the second suitcase, and pointed towards his house.

"Race you to the porch!"

"What!?"

As Bastian and I ran up the porch steps and bolted through the front door, my dad leaned up against the car with a grin on his face. He hadn't seen his daughter smile that much in the longest time. _This'll be good for her_, he thought. _A couple of weeks of fun will definitely get her mind off of things._

With that in mind, he went into his brother-in-law's house, mostly to make sure that the two teenagers didn't break anything

* * *

I set my suitcases beside the staircase before I followed Bastian up to the second floor. The only room that I remember ever going into on the top floor was Bastian's bedroom, so I figured that he would be taking me to the same place. I almost started to wonder if his bedroom had changed as much as he did. Mine certainly changed a lot, posters being replaced with bookshelves and drawing pads being replaced with notebooks. It almost made me feel uncomfortable, going into someone's bedroom other than my own. After all, that was where I'd spent 80% of my time over the past three years.

When I entered the room, however, I noticed that it hadn't changed very much at all. The rectangular window still remained in the corner of the front wall, directly behind his bed along the side. A TV had been put on his dresser at the foot of his bed, but that seemed to be the only thing that had changed over the past three years.

"So, how's life been?" I asked, trying to make some sort of conversation.

"Good enough, I guess." Bastian replied, shrugging. "You?"

"It's been bearable."

"I guess that's always nice."

We stood in silence for a moment, not sure how to continue. After all, this was the first time we've seen each other in years. We could have simply started out talking like we did when we were kids, but I doubted that either of us remembered how our communications went back then. To try and find something to talk about, I scanned my eyes across the room for a moment or two. There didn't seem to be anything fascinating to ask or talk about, but I continued looking around anyway. Then, I laid eyes on possibly the largest book I've ever seen.

Not only was it gigantic in page count, but also in overall size. The book, about the length of my forearm on each side, was bound in a tan material, and had a strange symbol on the cover. From where I stood, it looked like an unusually shaped circle with curves going through the middle. Even if I had been on the complete opposite side of the room, I would have been able to read the title of the book perfectly, which was printed at the top in big, fancy letters. _The NeverEnding Story_.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing towards the book.

Bastian looked over to the book, which lied on the corner of his bed. He stared at it for a moment or two, which almost made me wonder if he was going to reply at all. When he finally turned away from the book, he smiled at me.


	3. Chapter 2: Come Back

Bastian slowly approached his bed, more specifically his strangely large book. He looked back at me several times, indicating that he wanted me to follow him. Each time he looked back, I noticed that his smile never faded. There was something about the way he approached the book, the way he glanced at it with a look of complete awe, that made me realize how special the book was to him. At the same time, though, a wave of uneasiness struck me unexpectedly.

He took a seat on the bed, right next to the book. He nodded towards the enormous novel.

"Wanna give it a whirl?" He asked, his eyes almost shining in hope.

I glanced at the book for a moment, and reread the title. _The NeverEnding Story_... It seemed unfitting for a book that obviously had an end. Of course, the title more than likely reflected a main idea in the book. The character's main conflict seemed like it would never end, making their entire life resemble an unending story. Time continued to repeat itself until the character corrected a certain mistake, or maybe saved a person's life._ No, that last one is just ridiculous_.

"What's it about?" I asked.

Bastian simply shrugged.

"You'll just have to read and see."

I raised an eyebrow. Was there a specific reason why he didn't want to tell me what the book was about? It only made me feel even more uncertain as to whether or not I should read the book. Based on the title, I could only guess that it would have magical elements to it. After all, every story has to end at some point, and time never ceases to continue to go on smoothly. The last thing that I wanted to do was associate myself with anything as illogical as fantasy, even though I planned on it since the minute my cousin welcomed me into his house.

Even so, I found myself sitting next to Bastian on the bed, the book in between us. I couldn't exactly say to Bastian "No, I can't read it because I'm scared that it'll have a flying dog or something irrational like that.". Not only would I sound like a complete idiot, I would confuse my cousin as well. Since we haven't been in contact with each other in three years, he has failed to notice my change in preferred genre. When we were kids, fantasy was the center of our lives, so it was only obvious that he'd think that I hadn't changed. Also, if I was going to bore him with all of the things that_ I_ wanted to do over the next two weeks, I should at least do something that _he_ wanted to do.

With that in my mind, I reluctantly opened the book to reveal the first page of many. Interestingly enough, the story began without a title page, prologue, or anything of the sort. The very first thing that caught my attention was the intricate design of a T, which started the first paragraph. I hesitated for a moment, breathing in deeply before letting the air out, and read the first few lines. To see how the words would feel on my tongue, I read out loud.

"Thunder roared in the midnight sky as rain crashed down into the black mud." I began reading, grabbing my cousin's full attention. "This stormy night marked the anniversary of a brutal death, one that was difficult to stomach yet was undeniably required for the sake of Fantasia. As punishment for her horrendous crimes, her hollow corpse was buried in the very center of the Swamps of Sadness. Even in the afterlife, she would suffer alone with no one but herself to blame..."

The paragraph wasn't even finished, and I could not handle reading another word. How could they do something as cruel as that to a simple criminal? Granted, I was unaware of what she was guilty of, and by the extremity of the execution, it was at least murder. Even so, nobody deserved to be hollowed out completely and buried in a swamp... The Swamps of Sadness, they called it. Her death was required for the sake of Fantasia? Was that a person? A group of people? A city, or world?

"Are you okay?" Bastian asked all of a sudden, bringing me back to reality.

"Thanks for letting me read," I replied quickly, "but I think I'm done for now."

He gave me a questioning look.

"I'm sorry, I just... I haven't been able to deal with anything remotely magical since my... my mom died."

I kept my eyes fixed on the carpet, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that Bastian's expression changed from one of confusion to one of sympathy. If anyone could relate to my current situation, it was Bastian. He had to go through the exact same thing, so he knew exactly how difficult it was to deal with the loss of a parent. We were silent for a moment or two, lost in our own thoughts.

"What about your mom reminds you of fantasy?" Bastian asked me, breaking the silence.

I looked up at him for a moment, startled. Just a second later, my gaze went back to the floor.

"She used to read me fantasy stories every night before I went to bed." I replied, smiling despite my sadness. "She'd always pick the ones with the brave heroes and the beautiful princesses, since they were my favorite. When I got older, she would read me a chapter of a larger book every night. Even around the house, that woman lived and breathed magic."

The first year after her death, I would have broke down crying with just the mention of her name. The second year, it would range from teary eyes to uncontrollable waterfalls. The third year, I had always managed to stop anyone from mentioning my mother, so I hadn't cried at all. Surprisingly enough, I had spent a good twenty seconds of my time talking about what I loved the most about her, and my depressed state didn't trigger any tears. It was as if I had cried so much in the past that I was incapable of shedding any more tears no matter how upset I got.

"Well, one thing is certain." Bastian stated. "Your mother never read you a bedtime story quite like this."

I turned my head towards him.

"What makes you so sure?" I asked.

His answer came almost instantly.

"There's no book in the world quite like this one."

We were silent for a moment or two, and I was simply staring blankly at the book beside me. Even the first paragraph was one that resembled nothing that I had heard before, and reading it was almost refreshing. Though I had been too focused on the cruelty done to the criminal to realize it, the magical elements in the beginning alone were unlike anything I've ever read. That was the one and only thing that I enjoyed about reading the passage, however. If the story had been altered in a way so that it had the same creative style, but was a more realistic genre, I might have read on.

"I'm sorry, I just can't handle reading anything unrealistic." I said. "I feel like if I read books that focus more on what could very well happen in the real world, I'll be learning things that could benefit me at some point in life. Magic doesn't have that same effect on me, and it could quite possibly have the opposite."

Bastian stared at me, quiet and almost dumbfounded. This was understandable, for the last time he saw me, my previous statement would have been so false that it would be unforgivable for me to have even said it. Now, I almost felt embarrassed to say what I've been thinking for the past three years. Even worse, the way I said it almost made me feel like I was unintentionally insulting my cousin for enjoying such a thing.

"Not all fantasy is bad." He replied calmly. "Remember when we were kids? When we'd run around the house, pretending that the entire place was a magical world? We'd have our swords out, ready to fight any evil creatures that threatened the land. Even if we got defeated, you'd have that same smile-"

"We were_ kids_."

"That doesn't mean that we can't still have fun."

I suddenly had nothing left to say. I had never believed that having fun was a bad thing, especially since I was still a teenager. However, I had come to think of reading my non-fiction and mystery novels as fun. I had yet to meet a person my age that shared my same taste in entertainment, since most teenagers found fun through music or social gatherings. My cousin was the only other person I knew that loved books as much as I did, and now I couldn't even bear to read a paragraph of his preferred genre.

Bastian glanced over at the book for a moment or two, almost as if he were trying to come up with an answer for a difficult question. After what seemed like minutes, he looked up at me with a smile.

"I think I know what can help." He said.

He picked up the book and set it in his lap. His finger trailed down the first page, trying to find the place that I had stopped reading. When he found the sentence after it, he began reading.

"Suddenly, a flash of lightning came down from the sky and struck the mud directly above the corpse. The power surged deeper into the earth until it came in contact with the woman. It seeped into her decaying flesh, sending bolts of electricity throughout her body. The very second that it struck her heart, she sprung to life. Her-"

I had been staring blankly at him the entire time, trying to block out as much of his reading as possible. I figured that it would be rude if I stopped him in the middle of the paragraph and left the room, so all that I could do was sit and stare. However, the sound of another voice filling the room turned my attention back to the book. It was more of a raspy whisper than anything, though I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman's voice. One thing was certain, there was no way that Bastian was making the noise, for he was gawking at the book with his mouth completely shut.

_"Her fist, reduced to merely bone and rotten flesh, bolted out of the mud like the lightning above her. She stretched her weakened appendage before raising the second hand, mimicking the same speed."_

A cold shiver ran down my spine, bringing goosebumps to my arms.

"Quit it, Bastian." I said, my fear making it difficult for me to sound angry.

"It's not me." He whispered.

The voice spoke the words louder and much faster, making it so that everything they said sounded like one gigantic sentence. Each syllable was very distinctly pronounced, and it almost sounded like they were trying to spit the sounds at our faces.

_"The cold drops that hit her fists brought a sinister smile to her buried face As black mud seeped into her open mouth she began to rise up from the grave that she's been suffering in for centuries A frightening roll of thunder clapped almost ceremoniously as her face rose back to the surface Her body clothed in a translucent red robe came after and seemed to be welcomed by the frigid air and shadowy night clouds."_

"Bastian, stop it!" I yelled. "You're scaring me!"

"I told you, it isn't me!"

"Then who is it?"

"How should I..."

He stopped, just as the menacing voice stopped reading words from the book. Instead, they were replaced by two words, said over and over again as if she were chanting them.

_"Come back."_ They snarled._ "Come back. Come back. Come back! Come back!"_

My attention was suddenly drawn to the first page of the book, and for good reason. The tan paper, as unbelievable as it sounded, began to turn an entirely different color in the center. The sudden red began as the size of a rain drop, but wasted no time expanding to fill the entire page. The black letters were lost in the sea of thick red water that erupted from the paper. Bastian ran his fingers across the page, but there was no tangible liquid on the paper. All that I was able to do was move closer to the book, now completely engulfed in a horrifying red.

The voice chanted even louder, even quicker than before.

_"ComebackComebackComebackComebackComeback!"_

Out of the reddened page came a blood-soaked hand, fingers twisted and gnarled. Before I even had a second to react with a scream, the hand bolted up and cupped my face in its palm. At that moment, my entire world reduced to darkness despite my terrified wide eyes. Even with the terror evident on my face, my emotions seemed muted. However, my hearing was still intact.

_"COME BACK!"_


	4. Chapter 3: An Unrealistic Reality

I did my best to block out everything that was surrounding me. I shut my eyes as tight as they would go, I cupped my hands over my ears, I shied away from anything that happened to brush up against my skin. The only thing that I could expect was that the bloody hand that emerged from the book pages has dragged me into Hell. After all, demons don't grab your face and take you into Heaven, only angels can do that. I was terrified that, if I simply looked through a space in between my eyes that was as slim as a needle, I would be horrified beyond words at the sight of wretched souls burning to the bone in a lake of boiling lava. Maybe I would even see the face of Lucifer himself... his terrible, hideous face.

_This has to be a dream! _I thought, trying desperately to calm myself, but to no avail. _Hands can't come out of books, and they certainly can't drag you to Hell! You can only go to Hell if you die... I haven't done anything wrong! I'm not dead! I CAN'T BE DEAD!_

A faint voice was heard through the sounds of my pitiful inner screams. They sounded like they were miles away.

"Brittany, open your eyes!" They yelled.

"I can't!" I screamed, shutting my eyes even tighter.

"You can, just trust me."

They sounded closer now. Probably burning alive, practically a skeleton already.

"No!"

I shrieked when someone, some_thing_, grabbed my wrist and pulled one of my hands away from my ears. To my surprise, I didn't hear the pained screams of tortured souls, nor did I hear Satan welcoming me into his fiery kingdom. In fact, I could hardly hear anything at all. Aside from the slow breaths of the person in front of me, all that reached my ears was the sound of lightly flowing water. It wasn't quite like a waterfall, it was too soft and peaceful for that... It was more likely to be a river, a lake even.

"Brittany, you can open your eyes."

With my ears uncovered, I was able to recognize the voice of my cousin, Bastian. _How is he here? Did he get grabbed by the demon as well? Is he okay? He's not hurt, is he?_

Slowly, cautiously, I opened my eyes.

When I saw my cousin kneeling in front of me, still holding tightly onto my wrist, I knew that it was, in fact, his voice that I had heard. It wasn't a devil imitating him in order to give me a false sense of security, it was really Bastian. The blonde boy almost seemed to be glowing, since the sunlight that lit up the sky above us seemed to radiate off of him. His concerned frown slowly lifted into a half-smile.

"See, you're okay." He assured me, letting go of my wrist.

He started to stand and back away from me a couple of steps, allowing me to see more of our surroundings. A part of me was still terrified of what I might see if I looked up and surveyed the area, so my eyes instantly went to the floor. It wasn't a floor that I saw, exactly, but the bottom of a boat that seemed to be made entirely out of sea shells. I was sitting at the end of the boat, my back up against the curved, half-foot high walls. When Bastian had left me, he went to stand at the opposite end of it and stare out at the lake that we smoothly drifted on. As I started to get to my feet as well, I decided that the lake would be the first thing that I looked at.

My eyes went to look over the side of the boat, where I could see nothing except miles of seemingly endless water. The lake water was as clear as a crystal, so pure that I was able to see the multicolored fish that seemed to swim many miles under us. They were probably a lot closer to the surface than they appeared to be, trying to take in the sight of the clear blue sky just as I was. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the sun shined high above the world in the direction that Bastian was staring in. After marveling in the beautiful sight of the lake, I joined him at the front of the boat.

When I finally caught a glimpse of the scene that Bastian had been looking at for almost a minute now, I doubted that I would be able to take my eyes off of it either. The shell boat that we stood in was floating towards an enormous kingdom, its walls seemingly made entirely out of shining silver. Gigantic silver ships lined the perimeter of the city, leaving only one opening in front of the city gate. The boat seemed to be going directly towards the gate, even when there was no current that guided us there, or a propeller that moved the boat on its own.

"I'm dreaming..." I said, still unable to turn away from the silver city before me.

"It's not a dream." Bastian corrected me. "It's just made out of them..."

_This place is made out of dreams... Dreams can't do anything except appear while you are asleep. I must be asleep, then. This can't be real. None of this could ever possibly be real._

"It _is _a dream, Bastian." I finally looked over at my cousin. "None of this could ever appear in real life. I mean, the water is _never _this pure in reality, and the boat is moving on its own. It's not practical, and you can't convince me otherwise."

"That's the beauty of it. It's _not _practical. It's _not _realistic. But none of that matters, because it's _all _real."

I raised my eyebrow at him, starting to get slightly annoyed with his persistence.

"Okay, if this is real, then where are we?"

"Fantasia."

All that I did was stare at him. A disbelieving, skeptical stare, but a stare all the same. Bastian noticed my expression, and explained.

"I don't know what happened a while ago, I'll admit that, but I know Fantasia when I see it. The voices were coming from the book... the hand came out of the book, and we went in it."

"You know, just a second ago, I was completely convinced that I had been dragged into Hell by a demon. _That _makes more sense than what you just said."

"I know, and I wouldn't have believed it either." Bastian put his hand on my shoulder. "I don't know why we've been brought here, or where we're supposed to go after this, but I'm telling the truth when I tell you that we're in Fantasia."

A part of me wanted to consider that he was being honest. Maybe we _were _in Fantasia, maybe we _have _been brought inside of the book. That part of me couldn't have been any larger than the end of a toothpick, however. A much larger, more dominating part of me chose to believe that this was all a dream, and that I would wake up soon enough. This would all be over in about an hour or so, and it would be forgotten just minutes after I woke up. Just like every other dream that I've ever had... except I've never had a dream quite like this. For a figment of my imagination, it seemed very real... I could smell the sea water that rushed at me in the wind, I could feel the sun almost blinding me when I try to look at it...

_No! This is all a dream, and you know it. It has to be. There's no other explanation..._

"This might not actually be so bad." Bastian stated. "You'll love this place, I promise."

"How attached can I get to a _dream_?"

Bastian sighed, whether out of impatience or understanding, I have no idea.

"What will it take to make you believe that Fantasia is real?"

"Anything can happen in a dream, so there's really nothing that can convince me."

He looked down at the water for a moment, deep in thought. I continued to stare at the silver city that the shell boat was quickly approaching. The faint sound of violins reached my ears, as well as distant chatter and laughter. _How many people were behind that gate? Were they waiting for us? Or did they even know that we were coming?_

"Don't get the wrong idea, okay?" Bastian asked all of a sudden.

"Huh?"

Before I could back away, he swung his hand at my cheek. A sharp stinging erupted in my cheek directly afterwards. By the time Bastian winced and uncomfortably stuck his hand back into his pocket, I almost felt as if my skin was sinking closer to my jawbone, trying to shy away from whatever had caused it such an unexpected pain. It wasn't like he slapped me _hard_, but it was certainly enough to have woken me up from the dream that I was currently living in. The clear blue skies still remained above me, though. We were still sailing across still-moving water that was as transparent as glass, on a seashell boat. When the boat gently collided with the edge of the silver dock in front of the city gate, I was more than ready to question the truth behind my previous belief. _Is all of this real? Could we really be in Fantasia? But... that world is only a part of _The NeverEnding Story_, a work of fiction. Pure fantasy..._

While I simply stared off into space in somewhat of a daze, Bastian rambled on like an apologetic idiot. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that in a bad way or anything, I just wanted to prove that you're not in a dream! I don't blame you if you're mad at me, I'd be mad at me too! I should have thought of something a little less violent, like pinching you or something, why did I _slap _you if I could have _pinched _you! Brittany, I'm-"

"We're really here?" I asked monotonously, stopping whatever nonsense Bastian kept going on about.

Bastian looked up at the gigantic gate before us, then looked back at me with a smile. With my eyes solely focused on the silver city walls, I couldn't tell if his smile represented his joy to hear that his cousin finally believed him, or if it was a victorious smirk that hid his inner desire to ask "So, how long will it be 'till you ever doubt me again?".

"In the flesh..." He responded.

He swung his leg over the edge of the boat and stepped onto the dock, making the boat shake a little with the shift in weight. I quickly took a step to the right, positioning me in the middle of the boat. Bastian started to walk towards the unopened gate, but stopped when he didn't hear any footsteps behind him. When he turned around, he simply saw me standing at the front of the boat, skeptically staring up at the gate. He sighed.

"It's alright." He told me. "You can come with me."

"Is it safe?"

He sighed again, a smile reaching his face once more.

"Now, when have I ever put the great Brittany Payten in danger?"

He held his hand out towards me, expecting me to take it in mine and follow him into the beautiful city. I hesitated at first, wondering what sort of things went on behind the abnormally tall walls, and if any of those things could get me hurt or... killed. It's been years since I've ever read a fairy tale, so it never crossed my mind that the main lady in the story never got killed. Captured by dragons or trapped in a tower, yes, but they never faced an agonizing death that you'd only see in a horror flick. _But what if I'm not the main lady?_

_Then Bastian will keep me safe. He hasn't let me down yet. Why would he let me down now?_

When I reached my final decision, I grabbed Bastian's hand. I've never seen a wider smile on my cousin's face.


	5. Chapter 4: Storm

The Silver City, which I learned was the official name of the kingdom, was surprisingly more than shining gray buildings and charismatic townspeople. If I had been given the chance to rename this precious city, I would name it to represent the entire area and not just the outer walls, instead naming it the Shining City. Many of the buildings and shops scattered around the area, matching the color and material of the artificial ground, were built mostly out of pure gold. Decorative patterns on the walls were formed with tiles of emerald and ruby, giving the busy city a great amount of much-needed color. Any windows in the city were made out of turquoise stained glass, and I doubted that I would see any clear glass for miles. The tall lamp posts that stood near the center of the area illuminated the kingdom just as well as the sun did, making the metals and jewels glisten. These lanterns were lined with bits of glittering diamond, made to further carry the light that radiated from the fire at the tops of the posts.

Even more magnificent than the city itself, and I wouldn't have believed it to be true if they hadn't have been there when we arrived, were the flashy civilians. Dancing to the soft violins that played in the town square, they talked among themselves and giggled carelessly. Each of them, men and women, wore silky robes of many bright colors. Their most notable piece of clothing, however, were their outrageous headdresses and masquerade masks. A majority of the townspeople, giving me the assumption that it was a popular fashion trend in the Silver City, wore enormous bird feathers on top of their heads, many resembling the colorful patterns of a peacock. Attached to their over-the-top hats (or seeming to be), were full-face masks. Many had beautiful, intricate patterns carved or painted onto them, while others looked fantastic with just a plain color. From the place that I stood in front of the gate, I couldn't tell if they were even masks at all. I couldn't see any of the civilians' arms or legs inside of their robes and dresses, so I couldn't see if their skin color resembled that of their masks. _Are they even masks?_

"So, do you like it?" Bastian asked me, grinning like a madman.

"Who are all of these people?" I asked, staring at the townspeople curiously, almost fearfully.

"I'm not sure." My cousin responded. "I always see them when I come here, though. They've never told me any of their names individually, and I've never really tried to have a conversation with any of them. If you ask me, I'd-"

"Are they at least human?"

Bastian was somewhat surprised by my question, though he had expected that I'd ask something similar about the people in the Silver City. I was still in a state of slight disbelief, not to mention that I knew near to nothing about this world. All that I knew about it was what I read in _The NeverEnding Story_, and from what I've already seen, I seemed to be in an entirely different part of the world.

"How many humans do you think you'll find in the world of pure fantasy?"

"Well, it better be more than just you and me..."

Bastian almost frowned when he heard me say this. He knew far more about Fantasia than I ever would, and he knew without a doubt that we were the only humans in this world. Everything else was a form of a creature, whether it looked like a human or not. Even with this knowledge, there wasn't a single part of him that believed that I would hate and reject everything that Fantasia had to offer. There had to be _something _in this endless fantasy world that sparked my interest, even if it meant that it was the only thing about Fantasia that I didn't _completely _hate.

To change the subject, Bastian grabbed my hand and smiled at me.

"I wanna show you something."

Before I could protest, I was being led through the crowd of people towards a place that, apparently, my cousin deemed to be special. I could hardly see anything beyond the vast amount of flashy civilians, and only some of them bothered to move out of the way when we went jogging through the crowds. I was feeling very uncomfortable about bumping into many unusually dressed strangers, who may or may not be human under their supposed masks, and I was unable to stop myself from being pulled to a place that I've never been to before. In a place like this, I wasn't sure what to expect.

"Where are we going?" I asked, just barely raising my voice enough to be heard over the chatter.

"You'll see..." Bastian turned towards me, still jogging through the crowds, and smiled.

_I don't know if that's a good sign or not..._

I couldn't tell you how much time it took us to emerge from the crowd of people and start running freely through the city, but it felt like an eternity to me. The anxiety that I could feel building up at the pit of my stomach made time seem to slow down, like it would do in any setting. Maybe time really _did _slow down, just to prolong the negative energy bouncing around in the world's only non-believer of fantasy. Even while I was jogging through a truly beautiful island kingdom, even when I was breathing the air of Fantasia, I couldn't be sure if this was all real. What if I was just having a very vivid dream? I couldn't be sure what around me was real quite yet...

When we came to a narrow alleyway in between two buildings, Bastian came to a halt. He let go of my hand as I came up beside him, trying to find what exactly he was staring at. The end of the alley seemed to be at the edge of the city, since I could see the crystal clear lake water splashing up against the silver floor. When I looked over at my cousin, though, his eyes seemed to be focused more on the building to our right. The rope ladder hanging over the side of the building caught my attention, and since that was the only unique part of the building, I had to guess that it was what Bastian was staring at. Only a second after I noticed it, he approached it with a smile.

"Follow me." He said as he put one foot on the bottom rope of the ladder and started climbing.

As he climbed, my eyes went to the roof of the building. From what I could see, it was flat, probably easily to walk on top of. It couldn't have been more than fifteen feet high, but the idea of climbing the ladder to get to the top frightened me a little. I wasn't normally scared of heights, but from where I stood on the ground, I couldn't see anything on the roof. I had no idea what was in store for me up there.

_But Bastian said he'd never put me in danger..._

Keeping that comforting thought in mind, I followed my cousin up the ladder. He was very close to the top when I first started climbing, so he was looking down at me over the edge of the building for the most part. I looked down to make sure that I was safely climbing the ladder, since I could easily break an arm if I fell at the height that I was at.

_Don't think about that..._

I reached the top a lot quicker than I had expected, and I was grateful for that. Now that my eyes were above the surface of the rooftop, I could see a great amount of tools and paint buckets lying on top of it. The roof had probably been under construction or had recently been repaired, but I couldn't stop myself from focusing on one other image that I couldn't see before. Bastian grabbed me by the hand and led me over to the edge of the roof, making it far easier for the both of us to marvel in the beautiful sight.

While on the ground, I could only see so much of the Silver City at once, and the townspeople made it so that the portion that I saw was quite small. From up above the kingdom, however, I was shown that the city itself was far greater than what I had already seen. Every building, every street, and every civilian that was between the gate and the rooftop was seen by the both of us. The golden surface of the ground and the jewels that decorated the building walls seemed to shine even brighter than they had when we first arrived, and though it was near blinding, I couldn't bring myself to turn away from it. The extraordinary beauty of the city seemed to have the same effect on Bastian, even though he had already seen this at least once before.

"Whoa..." I murmured.

"I knew you'd like it." Bastian responded.

"It's beautiful..."

I didn't seem to be able to describe it as anything other than beautiful. Gorgeous, dazzling, lovely... Beautiful.

"Most of Fantasia is beautiful. You'll see the rest of it eventually."

I turned towards my cousin.

"The rest...?"

"The Silver City isn't even a fraction of Fantasia. This world is literally endless! As long as children keep dreaming, Fantasia will never die. This city was thought up by a child in our world, and it appeared here. Each creature came from someone's imagination."

_Everything in this world was thought up by a human child... Unicorns, fairies, mermaids, elves... Vampires, werewolves, sea serpents... Demons with bloody hands. Fantasia is the land of human fantasy, of children's dreams, but what about their nightmares? Is there a separate world for nightmares, or do they go hand-and-hand with dreams? The beginning of _The NeverEnding Story _was no fantasy..._

All of a sudden, I saw something running down Bastian's top lip. Something red.

"Is your nose bleeding?" I asked.

Bastian's hand went to wipe at his nose, and when he looked back at it, it was smeared with blood. He stared at it in front of him in confusion, not sure how or why his nose could have been bleeding. Just before he was about to ask about it, however, another drop landed onto the back of his hand like a drop of rain. A moment after he saw the second drop on his skin, I felt something small and warm splash on the top of my head. My put my finger up to my hair and felt around for a raindrop, but when I looked back at my finger, it was thinly coated with blood. I saw that my cousin was gawking up at the sky, and I felt a chill run up and down my spine when I saw what he was staring at.

When we were on the boat outside of the city, the sky was a bright blue, and there wasn't a single cloud for miles. By the time we had climbed onto the rooftop to look out at the glittering city, several small and thin clouds had begun to form. I didn't think anything of it, since clouds were a very common occurrence back where I lived, and they didn't appear to be rain clouds of any kind. I looked up, however, and I saw thick, dark clouds casting an ominous shadow over the Silver City, red raindrops descending from their cores. They appeared to be entirely gray at first glance, but after staring at them for several seconds in a confused daze, all that I focused on were the vein-like sparks erupting through the clouds. They gave the dark grey clouds a tint of faded pink, which slowly formed more into a deep red with each passing second.

"Does that normally happen?" I asked shakily, not daring to take my eyes off of the unusual rain clouds.

"Not that I've seen..."

Just a moment after he said this, the light and infrequent sprinkles of blood turned into a downpour.

It seemed that hundreds of bloody raindrops descended from the sky each second, covering the Silver City in a thick red blanket of rain. I simply stared up at the sky while the crowds below us screamed and howled in fear. The civilians scurried through the streets, trying to take shelter in any way possible. Doors were slammed... Glass was broken... Utter chaos.

"Brittany, come on!" Bastian exclaimed, grabbing my hand.

He was bolting towards the side of the building that the ladder was dangling off of. I thought for a moment that we were going to climb back down to the ground and hide in one of the buildings, but he ran right past the ladder. _Did he not see it? We could have gotten inside one of the buildings! _I was about to direct him back towards the rope ladder, but he stopped in front of a white box that lied near the edge of the roof. It was rectangular-shaped, and it was about a third the height of my cousin. It didn't seem like it would be able to hold very much. _What's in that thing?__  
_

"Follow me!"

Bastian let go of my hand, and sat down on the ground with his legs in front of him. He used one of his legs to push back the front side of the box, making it swing back inside of itself like a sideways door. Before I could ask any questions, he pushed himself forward with his arms and sprung through the door. I stared in confusion, trying to comprehend what exactly I had just seen. _That's not even a box... that's some kind of chute._ Where had Bastian just gone?

I approached the chute with caution, not sure where it would lead when I went down it. I pushed the door back with my hand, and I peered down the dark hole that the white walls kept hidden. The darkness kept me from seeing how far down it went, and I could just barely see how incredibly steep it was. Brushing my finger against the slide made me certain that it was made of a type of metal, and I was fairly sure that I would glide down it pretty quickly.

_It'll be over in a couple of seconds. Just like a roller coaster... But where does it lead to? Where in God's name is Bastian!?_

A roll of thunder made me jump a little bit, reminding me that I was wasting time and was just sitting on my knees in the bloody rain. The screams of townspeople had died down, giving me the assumption that they had all found some place to hide until the storm died down. Those terrified screams were the only thing that made me certain that storms weren't normally like this in Fantasia. This was probably the first bloody storm that had ever formed above the Silver City. Was it the first in the entire world? Was it happening anywhere else?

A red flash of light appeared somewhere behind me, and I could hear something breaking... Possibly the recently repaired roof. A sudden shock on my fingers made me bring my hand back away from the metal, and I shook it back and forth to try and shake the stinging sensation away.

"Dang it, Brittany, just _go_!" I shouted at myself, referring to my reluctance to go down the chute after my cousin.

Just after I said this, a blood-curdling cackle behind me made a cold shiver run down my spine. I whipped my head around to see who, or what, was behind me, but all that I was able to see were two hands. There wasn't a person that they were attached to... just two hands. Two bloody hands.

I would have started screaming at that sight alone, but the mysteriously floating hands pushed me down the chute before I had the chance.


End file.
